Between Two Knees

A new commission of the American Revolutions new plays series tells Indigenous history through a brilliant comedic production.

Dmae features the searingly funny and courageous production of Between Two Kneesdetailing more than 100 years of Indigenous American history. The show is currently running through October at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She features actor Justin Gauthier who performs Larry in the show and writer Dallas Goldtooth, part of the Sketch comedy group The 1491s.

Justin Gauthier (Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin) is currently performing the role of Larry in Between Two Knees at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Other theatres: Regional: Rusty in Toronto at Dreamer’s Rock (College of Menominee Nation, Keshena, Wisconsin). Film: Assistant director and screenwriter, Kāēyas Mesek Oskēken (It’s Old and It’s New); producer and screenwriter, Through Tribal Eyes: Change on the Menominee Nation. Education: MFA in Screenwriting, Institute of American Indian Arts; BA in Creative Writing, University of Wisconsin-Madison. www.indigenousfilmnerd.wordpress.com

Dallas Goldtooth (Mdewakanton Dakota and Dine) is a co-founder of the Indigenous comedy group, The 1491s. He is a the Keep it in the Ground Organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network. He is a Dakota cultural/language teacher. He is also a poet, traditional artist, powwow emcee, and comedian

More about the show: In this American Revolutions commission, sketch-comedy troupe the 1491s tell an intergenerational story of familial love, loss, and connection that spans the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee, forced re-education via Indian boarding schools, World War II, the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam and the 1973 takeover at Wounded Knee.

Directed by California Shakespeare Theater Artistic Director Eric Ting and infused with the 1491s’ boldly uninhibited, fearless and subversive approach to comedic storytelling, this world-premiere production takes a hard look at the impacts of systematic oppression after the point that textbooks typically stop teaching Native history. Also, it’s funny.